Table of Contents

41.1. Overview

41.1.1. Advantages of Using PL/pgSQL

41.1.2. Supported Argument and Result Data Types

41.2. Structure of PL/pgSQL

41.3. Declarations

41.3.1. Declaring Function Parameters

41.3.2. ALIAS

41.3.3. Copying Types

41.3.4. Row Types

41.3.5. Record Types

41.3.6. Collation of PL/pgSQL Variables

41.4. Expressions

41.5. Basic Statements

41.5.1. Assignment

41.5.2. Executing SQL Commands

41.5.3. Executing a Command with a Single-Row Result

41.5.4. Executing Dynamic Commands

41.5.5. Obtaining the Result Status

41.5.6. Doing Nothing At All

41.6. Control Structures

41.6.1. Returning from a Function

41.6.2. Returning from a Procedure

41.6.3. Calling a Procedure

41.6.4. Conditionals

41.6.5. Simple Loops

41.6.6. Looping through Query Results

41.6.7. Looping through Arrays

41.6.8. Trapping Errors

41.6.9. Obtaining Execution Location Information

41.7. Cursors

41.7.1. Declaring Cursor Variables

41.7.2. Opening Cursors

41.7.3. Using Cursors

41.7.4. Looping through a Cursor's Result

41.8. Transaction Management

41.9. Errors and Messages

41.9.1. Reporting Errors and Messages

41.9.2. Checking Assertions

41.10. Trigger Functions

41.10.1. Triggers on Data Changes

41.10.2. Triggers on Events

41.11. PL/pgSQL under the Hood

41.11.1. Variable Substitution

41.11.2. Plan Caching

41.12. Tips for Developing in PL/pgSQL

41.12.1. Handling of Quotation Marks

41.12.2. Additional Compile-Time and Run-Time Checks

41.13. Porting from Oracle PL/SQL

41.13.1. Porting Examples

41.13.2. Other Things to Watch For

41.13.3. Appendix